The electronics industry is a great way to make a profit while running your own business. Most people in the United States, and across the world, own multiple electronic items such as laptops, desktops, mobile phones, and more. As our work and entertainment becomes increasingly more dominated by technology, consumers need to purchase more devices (and keep their devices upgraded).
It can be intimidating to find reputable wholesale dealers to source inventory from. You will have to compete for customers’ attention with both big box retail stores as well as thousands of small businesses. By following these simple tips, you can make sure your business will be successful and profitable for years to come.
1) Find a Niche
It can be tempting when you first open an electronics retail shop (or even just an eBay store) to determine what types of electronics you want to sell. You may feel your best option is to stock a little bit of every type of device you possibly can get. This is tempting because it allows you to not have to spend the time and energy necessary to search out specific types or brands of products. However, this strategy can actually be detrimental to your business in the long term. When you work in the electronics industry, you will need to be knowledgeable about the products you sell. You may even be required to fix or upgrade computers and other electronic devices. While some knowledge is universal across brands and device types, many things that you need to know are not.
By focusing on a specific category of brand or item, you will give yourself the time and energy to become proficient in that category. You will quickly learn how the item works, what the pitfalls of selling it are, and which wholesale dealers provide the best value for your niche.
2) Avoid Popular Products
It may seem counter-intuitive to ignore (or at least not prioritize) popular products. After all, don’t you want to sell in demand products that consumers are willing to pay a lot of money for? Of course you do! The problem is…so does everyone else.
When you are first starting out with your business, you will probably not have the funds to compete with larger businesses that have more buying power for these in demand products. If a specific brand or type of electronic device is very popular, many businesses will be bidding or sending offers on the items. Of course you do not want to purchase unpopular items for resale either! Finding the exact type of item that strikes a balance between desirable enough to make money on but not so popular that there is a lot of competition can be difficult, but doing the work to discover and source this type of item will be well worth it.
3) Focus On Reputable Wholesale Dealers
This may seem obvious, but many small businesses fall for scams and tricks from disreputable companies when they are first starting to source inventory for resale. Unfortunately the electronics industry seems to attract a lot of shady sellers. Make sure you do thorough research on any wholesale dealer before purchasing products. Check to see if there have been any complaints filed against them by other small businesses. You can also ask them for references to other businesses they have worked with in the past and see what others’ experiences with this wholesale dealer have been like.
4) Negotiate Freight Shipping Rates
Many small businesses forget that even if they find a great deal on wholesale electronics for resale, they will have to ship the items to their location. Freight charges can get very expensive, very quickly. These freight charges will only add to your costs and can suck away any potential profits. Most of the time, the business buying the merchandise will be expected to pay shipping costs. Make sure you check around with many different freight providers so you can compare costs for shipping your goods. Also, make sure to check other factors such as the delivery time and reputation of the freight provider.
ELEMS LTD can help you arrange shipping and connect you with reliable freight shipping service provides to get you your merchandise quickly and safely.
5) Contact Suppliers Like ELEMS LTD Directly
Many wholesale dealers such as ELEMS LTD get new goods in constantly. If you do not see anything that interests you right now, there is an excellent chance those items will be available in the near future.
Contact us today and let us know what types of items you are looking to buy. We can then alert you when they become available, oftentimes before the inventory list even goes out to the general public.